A prudish Bucks County road crew nabs photographer

TOWN SQUARE

September 13, 2011|Paul Carpenter

In 1961, a San Francisco man announced he was offended by the fact that large animals at the zoo were traipsing around with their private parts exposed, a problem especially acute in the case of elephants.

To protect children and others from being traumatized, the man said he was launching a crusade to provide large panties for the sake of elephant modesty. Fellow prudes started sending him money to purchase zoological panties and brassieres.

I lived not too far from San Francisco at the time and was not especially surprised by the news stories on the zoo animal panties crusade. This was, after all, California, where odd things happen. I do remember thinking it was a good thing the man never spent time on a ranch.

Right after the contributions began, however, the man contacted news media and begged everybody to stop sending him money. He said his initial announcement was just a joke to poke fun at prudes, and now he was afraid he'd get in trouble for collecting money from them in a hoax.

For 50 years, I thought I'd never see a display of prudery to top that. Now I have.

According to a "Police Blotter" item on Tuesday, William Marshall of Perkasie was charged with conspiracy to commit indecent exposure and disorderly conduct.

On Aug. 23, it was reported, Marshall was taking photographs of two undressed young women in the East Branch of Perkiomen Creek at Moods Covered Bridge Park.

"A witness told police they [the trio] had left the scene, but was able to provide a photo of the man's license plate," the story said. The plate was traced to the 61-year-old Marshall, who lives nearby, and officers went to his home, where they found him and the two 20-year-old models.

"Marshall admitted taking photos of nude women for modeling," the story said.

The Pennridge Regional Police, however, did not issue a press release about the case until Monday. The release also identified the young women, one from Philadelphia and the other from Beverly, N.J.

I wondered what sort of risque things those two young women were doing in that creek, in full view of all the kiddies playing in the park, so I asked Police Chief David Mettin about it.

"There were no children around," he said, and the area where Marshall was taking the pictures is a "semi-secluded" section of East Rockhill Township.

So who, I asked, would get their shorts in a bunch over that?

"It was a township road crew," Mettin said. "They were working on the creek bed."

Were the models doing anything other than splashing around in the creek?

"Nope, they were just standing there."

I called Marshall's home to ask about all this, but his wife said he was not there and she knew nothing about the flap. (Yipes, I thought, I just complicated this guy's life.) Within minutes, however, he called back and was as gracious as could be, and he did not seem upset that I had called.

"As far as I know, I have not been charged," he said. I told him about the police press release and the charges against him, and the indecent exposure charges against the two young women.

Marshall has a regular job but has a second job in photography. "That's what I do. I'm a photographer. … I have a studio at my house." (I checked with some art galleries in oh-so-artsy Bucks County and, indeed, Marshall has exhibited at them.)

He said the photo shoot was not visible to anyone in the park and was hidden by vegetation a short distance from the covered bridge. "I'm 61, so I go out of my way to be discreet," he said.

He saw the township road crew (adult males) at the park, but only after the photo shoot, and a crew member told him "it was inappropriate" to take pictures there. "I can understand their point of view. They want to protect the public," Marshall said.

(I told you he was gracious.)

I could understand if somebody just told Marshall not to do photo shoots in the park, but these guys decided to sic the police on him. (I don't fault the police for going to prudish extremes; they generally have a duty to act on complaints from citizens.)

Nobody could get a peek at the undressed women without making his way through the vegetation. These road crew guys must have dainty sensitivities, to say the least.

Gosh, I hope they never wander into an art museum, where nudity is all over the place. The emotional trauma could put them in intensive care for weeks.

And one final piece of advice: Members of the East Rockhill Township road crew should definitely stay out of zoos.